2022 S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship

The 2022 S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship, known by its sponsored identity the Nulon S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship, was the second season of the S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship. Joey Mawson, last years reigning champion, won the title again, marking only the ninth time in 60 years of Gold Star competition where the championship was successfully defended.

Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers were competing in the 2022 championship: Team No. Driver Rounds Ref Team BRM 1 Joey Mawson All 3 Tim Slade 1 Zane Goddard 2–3 Tim Berryman5 4 James Davison 3 15 Kaleb Ngatoa 1–3, 5 Versa Motorsport5 Thomas Maxwell5 8 Shae Davies 2–4 24 John Martin5 37 Cooper Webster All 49 Jordan Boys5 Valvoline Garry Rogers Motorsport 12 Adam Garwood 1–3 17 Ben Bargwanna 3 18 Aaron Cameron 3–5 29 Nathan Herne 3–5 31 James Golding All Amadio Motorsport / GRM 22 Sebastien Amadio 3, 5 Tim Macrow Racing 23 Tim Macrow All 88 Racing 48 Blake Purdie All 88 Josh Fife 1 Somers Motorsport 71 Conor Somers 3 Matt Chahda Motorsport 81 Matt Chahda 3

Race calendar The second S5000 season was originally supposed to start in late 2021, but after multiple postponements and cancellations, the organizers instead decided to hold a revived Tasman Series over the end of 2021, and start the second S5000 season in January 2022. In November 2021, it was announced that the S5000 series would take part in the 2022 Darwin Triple Crown. On December 15, the full calendar was released for the Australian and Tasman Championships. On 17 January 2022, Sydney was confirmed to hold the fourth round of the championship. On June 2, 2022, the sixth round at Sandown Raceway, scheduled for September, was cancelled to avoid a three-month break between the last two rounds. Round Circuit Feature Race Location Date 1 Symmons Plains Raceway John McCormack Cup Launceston, Tasmania 11–13 February 2 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit Alfredo Costanzo Cup Phillip Island, Victoria 18–20 March 3 Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit Melbourne Grand Prix Alan Jones Trophy Melbourne, Victoria 7–10 April 4 Sydney Motorsports Park Warwick Brown Cup Eastern Creek, New South Wales 27-29 May 5 Hidden Valley Raceway Darwin Triple Crown Darwin, Northern Territory 17–19 June

Race results Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lapWinning driverWinning entrant 1 R1 Symmons Plains Raceway 12 February James Golding Joey Mawson Joey Mawson Team BRM R2 13 February Tim Macrow Josh Fife 88 Racing ME James Golding Tim Macrow Tim Macrow Racing 2 R1 Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit 19 March James Golding James Golding James Golding Valvoline Garry Rogers Motorsport R2 Joey Mawson Tim Macrow Tim Macrow Racing ME 20 March Joey Mawson Joey Mawson Team BRM 3 R1 Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit 8 April Joey Mawson Aaron Cameron Joey Mawson Team BRM R2 9 April Cooper Webster Shae Davies Versa Motorsport ME 10 April Joey Mawson Joey Mawson Team BRM 4 R1 Sydney Motorsports Park 28 May Joey Mawson Joey Mawson Joey MawsonTeam BRM R229 May Joey Mawson Cooper WebsterVersa Motorsport ME Nathan Herne Aaron Cameron Valvoline Garry Rogers Motorsport 5 R1 Hidden Valley Raceway 18 June Nathan Herne Cooper Webster Cooper WebsterVersa Motorsport R219 June Jordan Boys Kaleb NgatoaTeam BRM ME Aaron Cameron Aaron Cameron Valvoline Garry Rogers Motorsport

Season report The 2022 S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship began in February at Symmons Plains, with defending champion Joey Mawson overtaking pole-sitter James Golding at the start of the first race and then leading him to the flag. Josh Fife won the second race, his second-ever S5000 race in the only round he competed in, leading home Tim Macrow, while Mawson retired. This meant his car had to be repaired for the main event, which was done with only seconds to spare. Macrow then won the main event as his closest competitor Golding ran off the circuit in the first part of the race. Mawson's tumultuous weekend meant Macrow led the championship by 13 points after the first round, ahead of Cooper Webster.

As the championship headed to Phillip Island, Golding once again took pole position, this time he was able to hold off Mawson in the first race and became the fourth different winner in as many races. Blake Purdie started first in race two, but was overtaken by Zane Goddard and Macrow, with the former running off the road, handing the latter the lead and the race win. The main event was a close battle between Golding and Mawson, with the latter surviving a late safety car restart to come out on top. Macrow only managed fourth place in race three, which meant his championship lead came down to just a single point over Mawson, with Golding and Webster tied in third.

The round in support of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park saw a surge in entry numbers, almost doubling to 16 drivers. It was still Mawson on top though, first achieving pole position in qualifying and then winning the first race - albeit only just, as new entry and reigning Tasman Series champion Aaron Cameron almost capitalized on a last-lap mistake by the leader. Shae Davies then won a shortened race two that ended under the safety car due to an incident involving James Davison and Goddard. Mawson was back on top for the main event, comfortably leading home Nathan Herne and Macrow and taking the championship lead in the process.

Sydney was the host of the penultimate round of the championship, with only eight cars entered. Mawson continued where he left off in Melbourne, getting pole position again even though he spun in qualifying. He then beat Cameron to win a thrilling first night race in S5000 history as his closest championship rival Golding retired with a broken steering arm. Webster led from lights to flag in race two, achieving his second win in the category. Cameron then finally claimed his first Gold Star win in the main event, charging to the front after a collision with Mawson on lap one. Mawson left Sydney with a 55-point cushion to second-placed man Macrow, who was a further 30 points ahead of Golding.

As the sixth round of the championship was cancelled, the S5000 debut at Hidden Valley Raceway turned into a championship decider. Herne claimed his first pole position in a qualifying interrupted by a heavy crash by Tim Berryman. His triumph didn't even last a single corner though, as Webster took the lead in race one and then won without being challenged again. Kaleb Ngatoa took his third victory in the category in race two, while a conservative sixth place for Mawson was enough to secure his championship defense. Cameron then won his second consecutive main event from pole, as Macrow lost third in the championship due to a non-finish.

Golding, Webster and Macrow had no answer to Mawson's pace over the season, and in the end his advantage was over 70 points to Golding in second. Behind him, it was very competitive though, with only nine points between second and fourth. The upswing in regular entries that was hoped for after 2021 sadly didn't happen, as only five drivers competed for the full season, but the strong field for the Formula 1-supporting third round still showed that interest in the championship was steadily growing.

Drivers' standings At each meeting, a qualifying session and three races were held. Meeting points were awarded to the fastest ten qualifiers in qualifying, where the grid for Race 1 was set. For Race 2, the top 75% from qualifying were reversed. The grid for the Main Event was defined by the points earned by the drivers across the weekend. Position1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th15thRetQualifying1098765432100Race 130272422201816141210864210Race 22018161412109876543210Main event60504032262422201816141210860 DriverSYMPHIMELSYDHIDPointsQR1R2MEQR1R2MEQR1R2MEQR1R2MEQR1R2ME1 Joey Mawson21Ret4223111911162546Ret4282 James Golding1235115238653Ret2377243753 Cooper Webster445233238637661Ret21Ret23724 Tim Macrow55215414654353356103Ret3665 Aaron Cameron227422Ret143412786 Blake Purdie66Ret675RetRet1014267744106762347 Nathan Herne44524477129Ret1958 Kaleb Ngatoa89474886971410881Ret1779 Shae Davies866Ret1115114855611910 Zane Goddard694553Ret810711 Adam Garwood98RetRet9777141010139112 Josh Fife77138013 John Martin35556414 Jordan Boys99836215 Ben Bargwanna79894216 Tim Slade336Ret4217 Sebastien Amadio161211Ret1111Ret83918 Tim Berryman12 DNS1072819 Conor Somers121112122420 James Davison15RetRet111421 Matt Chahda131313Ret7— Thomas MaxwellWDWDWDWD—DriverQR1R2MEQR1R2MEQR1R2MEQR1R2MEQR1R2MEPointsSYMPHIMELSYDHID

2022 S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship

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